


A Man Walks into a Bar...

by DAForever62442



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Found Family, Gen, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jorge's backstory, Minor Character Death, Non-Graphic Violence, POV Jorge, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 02:10:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DAForever62442/pseuds/DAForever62442
Summary: Family has always been the most important thing to Jorge. His family changes over time, but one thing remains the same: he will do anything to protect his family, even if it means putting his life at risk. This is Jorge’s story, from before WICKED to the Scorch to the Right Arm and finally to Paradise. Bookverse.





	A Man Walks into a Bar...

**Author's Note:**

> My first story on AO3!
> 
> This came about on Tumblr ages ago during a conversation with silveraiichiro. I gave them the character Jorge and the prompt word family, and they came up with:  
“When Jorge was younger he would always make his family a priority, more important than his friends. He would help his mother and tell jokes to his dad, and he would have a little brother and he would teach him how to use a bike and he just loves his family so much.”
> 
> Then I decided to add more and this headcanon/fic thing was born. I think I might have gotten a little carried away. I tried to make this as close to canon as possible, which made writing this way more challenging than I thought it would be. Let me know if anything’s confusing and I will do my best to clear it up. I haven’t read The Kill Order, so I used the Maze Runner Wiki for events before The Fever Code. 
> 
> There is brief mention of suicidal thoughts in this story. There’s little detail, but I don’t want anyone to put themselves in danger to read this story.

_"We all react to life's challenges in different ways…Some fight death, and some embrace its solace. Some recognize their fate and others do whatever is necessary to alter it. Sometimes we defy others' expectations, and, occasionally, we rise to meet them. But the constant is being true to ourselves. We do what we have to, when we have to. _ _We react for better or worse."  
_ _-Stephen D. Binder (Dr. Rachel Cranston, _NCIS_ Season 8 Episode 14: "A Man Walks into a Bar…”)_

* * *

Growing up in southern California, Jorge knows nothing about the Flare or WICKED or the Scorch. He knows nothing of what is to come once the sun flares hit Earth. He knows nothing of the boys in a maze who will later become his new family. 

These are the happy days. It’s just Jorge, his little brother Diego, and theirparents. They even have a cat named Dominic. Getting Dominic was kind of an accident—the cat just wandered in one day and refused to leave. He took care of the mice and didn’t cause trouble, so they let him stay. 

Jorge helps Diego with schoolwork and teaches him how to handle bullies and mean teachers. Jorge and his friends have sleepovers and tell ghost stories long into the night. Jorge’s father, Antonio, helps his sons build a tree house in the backyard when Jorge is eleven. The sign over the door reads “_La Casa de Huevos_.” Jorge has absolutely no idea why Diego decides to name it “The House of Eggs”—it sounds like a stupidly named breakfast place to Jorge—but it makes Diego happy so he bites his tongue and doesn’t comment. Antonio loves watching his sons play up there and getting along like brothers should. Jorge’s mother, Maria, has a garden in the backyard, and every summer she brings fresh flowers and vegetables to the neighbors.

When Jorge is fifteen, news stations start to talk about the population crisis: something will have to be done before it is too late. They also talk about the solar flares. Thousands of people are dying each day as the solar flares hit the Earth and radiation spreads. Countries between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where the flares are the worst, have been decimated. So far California’s been fairly okay, but it is only a matter of time. The radiation and heat will spread north and California will no longer be habitable. Earthquakes and floods are more common and the whole country is experiencing an increase in extreme weather. Maria tries to keep Jorge from watching, but he still sneaks it. He asks his mom about the solar flares, but she only smiles and says not to worry.

The Flare hits California when Jorge is seventeen. The Flare acts slowly, making people go insane over the course of several months until they finally die. He watches as his family succumbs to the disease. First his mother, then his father. Jorge does his best to take care of them and keep them comfortable. Eventually they leave, too far past the Gone to grasp what they’ve done. Jorge has no way of stopping them and never finds out what happens to them. 

Then it’s just him and Diego, alone in the world. Their family and all their friends are either dead or gone, and Jorge is only nineteen. They manage to keep their house—Jorge uses his parents’ savings, and it is hard to collect bills when everyone is dying. Jorge and Diego watch from their window as those with various stages of the Flare—now referred to as Cranks—roam the streets, looking for food and shelter. The whole world is dying, scorched by the sun and destroyed by the Flare. California is quickly becoming a desert, and Jorge knows it’s only a matter of time before they will have to leave. Famines and fires are widespread, and people turn to violence in order to survive. Jorge’s only concern is for his brother, his only purpose in life is to look out for and protect Diego. Jorge watches the few news stations that are still broadcasting and pays attention to what’s going on in the streets. He learns more about the famines, the Flare, and the organization known as the World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department—or WICKED, for short. 

Jorge learns that WICKED was formed by the remaining governments of the world in order to find a way to cure the Flare and hopefully end the current crisis. They’re recruiting survivors to help them in the search for the cure. Jorge also learns that there are people who are immune to the Flare. He’d been wondering why he hadn’t caught it yet, and this seems like the most logical explanation. He is immune while his parents and friends weren’t. Jorge knows he can’t help being immune, and of course he can’t know for sure, but he still hates it.

Almost a year after their parents leave, Diego starts to show symptoms of the Flare. He has constant mood swings and is often angry and irritable. Jorge feels helpless—first he couldn’t help his parents, now he can’t even help his own brother. He tries everything he can think of and asks everyone, even Cranks, for help. He gets nowhere, and Diego continues to suffer. Jorge knows there’s nothing he can do, but he doesn’t tell Diego. He tries to keep his brother’s spirits up and tells him he’s going to be fine.

Over the next few months, Diego’s condition continues to worsen. Jorge does all he can to keep the authorities from finding out. The would throw Diego in the newly-established Crank Palace, and the last thing Joge wants is his brother in a place like that. One moment Diego’s fine and his old self, the next he’s attacking Jorge and yelling about how it’s all Jorge’s fault. He starts seeing things and his forehead burns with fever and he has bouts of insanity. Jorge tries not to blame his brother, he knows Diego can’t help what he’s saying, but it’s hard. He can’t stand to watch his only brother slowly succumb to insanity. 

“Kill me, please_, _just kill me. I don’t want to become one of them,” Diego begs him. “I can’t do it! I…I _need _you to kill me! _Please_, don’t let them take me!” He’s approaching the Gone, and Jorge can’t _stand_ it. He can’t watch his only brother lose what is left of himself. 

Jorge is left with no other choice. Diego is a danger to himself and others, a danger to _Jorge_. He takes the gun his father kept locked in a safe and shoots Diego. At the age of twenty-one, Jorge becomes a murderer. 

Diego’s death leaves Jorge numb. _Maybe the Diego I knew was gone, so I didn’t really kill him_, Jorge thinks. _Maybe_. But Jorge knows in his heart that it’s not entirely true. He doesn’t know how to react, doesn’t know what to do now that his brother and purpose is gone. More importantly, though Jorge would never admit it, he’s _alone. _There’s nobody else left. Diego was all Jorge had, and _he killed him_. 

The only thing Jorge knows for a long time is mind-numbing grief. Then grief turns to anger, and anger turns to self-hatred. _He killed his own brother_. He has no right to mourn Diego’s death. He should be locked up or made to live on the streets with the Cranks. Now that Jorge finally allows himself to feel, he can’t stop the waves of anger and self-hatred that consume him. _I should have done something, _he thinks. _I should have saved him. He didn’t have to die._

At the age of twenty-two, Jorge thinks about killing himself. He can’t stand to live with what he’s done—he killed his own _brother_ for God’s sake. Jorge can’t go to sleep without dreaming about Diego. He can feel the gun in his hand, hear Diego’s pleas and the shot that killed him. The shot that _Jorge _fired. But he knows that Diego would never forgive him if he killed himself. Diego would want him to live his life.

Jorge remembers an old joke his dad had told him right around when the Flare had started spreading. “A man walks into a bar,” Antonio had said, “and asks the bartender for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a shotgun and fires a blast, just missing the man. The man thanks the bartender, puts a tip on the counter, and leaves. Why the thank you and the tip?” 

Jorge had pondered this for a moment until he finally came up with an answer. “The man had the hiccups,” Jorge had responded. Antonio had nodded, but offered no further explanation when Jorge had asked. Jorge always thought it was a lame joke. He hadn’t gotten the joke until now: it’s about reactions. Everyone reacts to what life throws at them differently. How you react doesn’t matter, what matters is that you can move on and continue living your life. So Jorge picks himself up, shoves his memories of Diego into a locked box in the back of his mind, and gets on with his life. He leaves California and heads north. There are too many ghosts in California, and the place will be uninhabitable soon. There is nothing left for him here. 

When he is twenty-four, Jorge goes to WICKED because he has no other choice. WICKED has been recruiting him and he needs the money, and anyway he can’t keep wandering forever. He needs a _purpose_, an outlet for his anger and hatred. Everyone hates the Immunes anyway, and going to WICKED is safer than roaming the streets. Besides, Alaska might be nice. It will at least get him far away from California and the memories that haunt him. Maybe WICKED really is close to curing the Flare like they’ve been claiming. Maybe he can be part of the cure, part of saving whatever remains of humanity. He can redeem himself by saving others. He needs to do his part to save the human race.

WICKED is able to confirm that Jorge is an Immune. “You’re lucky,” the nurse tells him. “You’re one of the few Immunes, a vital part of finding the cure.” Jorge doesn’t feel very lucky. 

Jorge trains to be a Berg pilot, roaming the skies on patrol for WICKED. He travels the world and sees how horrible it is. He sees Cranks fighting for the last scraps of food. He sees children crying for their mothers, who are long dead from the Flare or the changing climate. He sees a boy roaming the streets with a younger boy who appears to be his brother. They remind Jorge of himself and Diego. Jorge sees the world, burned by the sun and ravaged by the Flare, and starts to hate WICKED. 

He sees that all of WICKED’s work has been for nothing. Nothing is improving, only becoming worse. In hindsight, the acronym should have been a giveaway. But he grits his teeth and bites his tongue and silently hates WICKED, knowing self-preservation is more important than revenge. What can he do on his own anyway?

Deep down, he still believes WICKED is good. He believes in the cure and the Trials because it’s the only way to save what’s left of humanity. He stands by the old saying: “The ends justify the means.” The only way to make up for what WICKED hasn’t done is to cure the Flare. Curing the Flare will make up for WICKED’s refusal to help those who are suffering now. And the only way to do that, unfortunately, is to keep working with WICKED. Jorge has to do his part to help humanity.

He meets Brenda, a fellow Immune who seems to share his views aboutWICKED. She, like him, is alone in the world, having lost her family to the Flare. They bond quickly and soon become inseparable. In a way, Brenda reminds Jorge of Diego. She reminds him that the world isn’t all terrible, and there are still good people and things that are worth fighting for. Brenda is his new family.

All he can think about is his family, killed by the disease that WICKED is trying—and failing—to cure. Memories of Diego force themselves out of the locked box in his mind. Jorge remembers teaching Diego how to ride a bike and helping him with homework and bullies at school. He remembers the two boys in the city, scouring for non-existent food. This anger only fuels the fire inside him. It’s easier to focus on the anger than to deal with the grief.

At WICKED Jorge and Brenda learn about the Trials. The kids who are selected are special—most of them have the Flare rooted in their brains, but they show no symptoms, no signs that they are going insane. They’re here to help with the Trials, Jorge learns. The Trials are the key to finding out what makes these kids and the other Immunes different and curing the Flare.

Jorge and Brenda volunteer to go into the Scorch as part of an expedition into a Crank city for the Trials. Jorge goes because Brenda is going, and he goes where she goes. Brenda is his family now, and he always looks after his family. He also goes because he knows he has to do his part to help save those who still have a chance. If not for them, then for Diego and his parents and friends who were never given a chance at all. He hopes he won’t make it out so he never has to see WICKED again. Being in the Scorch sounds better than being stuck in WICKED’s headquarters. He won’t have that constant reminder of what he lost and what was taken from him. 

Jorge and Brenda meet Thomas and Teresa a few weeks before the expedition. Jorge is struck by just how _young _they are. He knows that they are helping to set up and run the Trials, of course, and he knows that they are children, but their paths had never crossed until now. It’s one thing to hear about the children working for WICKED, it’s quite another to see them and interact with them. 

He and Brenda had been told to gather a gang of Cranks, pretend to be one of them, and wait for a group of boys to show up asking how to get to the mountains. They’re also charged with bringing equipment in for when the boys show up for Phase Two. “You’ll know the boys when you see them. Thomas will be with them, look for him,” Dr. Paige had told Jorge before they left. “Do whatever it takes to keep your cover.” They allow him to go because he’s clever and because he’s an Immune, but also because he is disposable, no real loss if the Cranks get him. No real loss if the Scorch kills him because he’s only a Berg pilot. 

Living in the Scorch is worse than Jorge expected, but it’s still better than being in Alaska with WICKED. At least here Jorge feels like he’s doing _something_. Jorge is angry about the way the Cranks have just been left in the Scorch to die, but he knows he can’t do anything about it now. The best way to help them is to find the cure. 

A few weeks later, when Jorge meets a group of boys who are trying to cross the Scorch with the promise of a cure, he remembers why he’s fighting. He sees Thomas, who shows no signs of recognizing Jorge. _Good, _Jorge thinks. _That means the Trials are still going_. _There’s still hope for a cure_. 

One of the boys, a muscular boy with dark brown hair and an air about him that marks him as the leader, reminds Jorge of himself. Jorge remembers him from what he had seen on the beetle blade footage. Minho is determined to save those he cares about and only wants to get everyone out alive. Jorge knows he has to test them and make sure they pass the test WICKED has set for them. Jorge doesn’t agree with WICKED’s methods, but he knows it’s better to play along because all that matters is the cure. He sure as hell doesn’t want to kill Minho—the kid has spirit and determination and isn’t afraid to fight the world in order to save his friends. Jorge wishes he had been more like Minho when he was younger. Though Jorge has to admit that he is getting some satisfaction out of messing with Minho.   
Jorge doesn’t want the boys to suffer the same fate as the Cranks he allies himself with. Jorge knows not all the boys are immune and he knows what will happen to them if WICKED doesn’t find the cure. As much as he might not like WICKED’s methods, the cure is really the only hope humanity has. So he continues in his role as Crank, pretending he knows nothing about why these boys are in the Scorch. 

He agrees to speak with Thomas alone. Jorge has to admit, he’s impressed with how thorough the Swipe is, however morally wrong it might be. He’d seen it with some of the other subjects, but never up close like this. Thomas has no recollection of him or his role in the Trials.

When Thomas tells Jorge the truth about WICKED, about the Maze and the Grievers and Chuck, some of the old fury comes back. He had gone into the Scorch before Thomas entered the Maze, but his knowledge of how Phase One had ended is surprisingly complete. Gally, Chuck, the battle with the Grievers, and even Gally and Thomas’s rivalry is nothing Jorge didn’t already know. But hearing the story from someone who had been there gives him an entirely new perspective that the beetle-blade footage simply did not provide. The old anger and sadness and fear of the organization that took him and claimed him as its own returns in full force. It’s like when Diego died all over again. Despite this, Jorge continues in his role. He waits, testing the boys and their intentions. Jorge pretends Thomas’s story is enough to convince him to cross the Scorch with them and agrees to go. Not that he has much choice. Everything is all part of the Trials, another test set up by WICKED. 

Watching these boys risk their lives for each other teaches Jorge that not all is lost. There is still some good in the world, still some people who are worth knowing and protecting and caring about. For the first time in a long time, Jorge has hope.

These test subjects, these _boys_, who have risked so much and lost even more, remind Jorge to stay alive, to keep fighting. Jorge has never seen such passion and determination in teenage boys before, and it inspires him. He leads them through the Scorch, knowing that these boys are humanity’s final hope. Thomas, Newt, Minho, and the rest–they matter most now. He doesn’t matter, all that matters is getting these boys back alive so the fight can continue. WICKED needs these kids–who really aren’t kids anymore–to cure an incurable disease. And Jorge needs to stop that. 

When Thomas and Brenda get separated from the group, Jorge actually finds himself worrying about the boy even though all of this had been planned from the start. He knows Brenda can take care of herself, and after hearing what Thomas has been through he thinks Thomas can, too. He worries because Thomas is part of the key to finding the cure, to maybe justifying what WICKED has been doing all these years. What _he’s _been doing all these years. 

Jorge is worried when Thomas is shot, but more than anything he’s confused. This was not supposed to be part of the Trials. Thomas’s explanation after he comes back from the Berg does little to clear things up, but one thing is apparent: staying with Thomas is Jorge’s best bet.

Jorge’s worry goes up again when Thomas is taken by Group B. He remembers Teresa and some of the others from the days before the Trials, but this Teresa is not the one he remembers. True, he didn’t really have a lot of interaction with her or the others beyond watching the beetle blade footage, but Teresa was never this cold. Still, he says nothing as Thomas goes with her and the rest of Group B. He knows this is part of the Trials—Thomas is supposed to be killed by Group B, after all—but he never expected to grow so close to Thomas, to all the boys. He’d barely known Thomas before the Trials, had only met him that one time on the way to the Scorch. 

Jorge leads the Gladers through the mountains, hoping to meet Thomas and Group B on the other side before the deadline. Thomas returns with Group B, mostly unharmed, and together they reach the safe haven just in time to meet WICKED’s deadline. It turns out the safe haven is just a stick in the ground, and if that isn’t a metaphor for everything that’s happened in all of their collective lives Jorge doesn’t know what is. The Griever-like creatures that come out of the ground are the icing on the cake. False promises that turn out to be deadly are what WICKED does best. 

When they are rescued from the Scorch by WICKED, Jorge and Brenda are taken away before they have a chance to react. WICKED is taking no chances with them, forcing the pair back into their old roles.

Jorge goes back to his job as a Berg pilot, spending most of his time in the 

hangars. It’s an easy job and it keeps him close to headquarters, so Jorge isn’t complaining. He doesn’t see the Gladers every day, but he hears all about the progress being made as Phase Three continues. Brenda goes back to her old job as one of WICKED’s nurses, so Jorge gets a steady stream of information. 

A month later, Jorge is in his hangar when he hears a commotion on the coms. He steps out into the hallway to see Aris, Frypan, and the others escaping, Teresa leading them and dragging Tony along. The escaping teenagers spot him, and before he knows it eight Launchers are pointed at his head. Jorge begs them to let him explain, but he’s hit with a gun by some blond girl and knocked out. By the time he wakes up, Teresa and the others are gone, along with Tony and his Berg. 

He had hoped that Thomas, Newt, and Minho were with them, but is proven wrong when Brenda shows up with the three boys. He will never admit how glad he is to see them. Of course, he covers up his relief by arguing with Minho and Newt. He does have a reputation to uphold. When he realizes that Minho, Thomas, and Newt have refused to get the Swipe removed, Jorge knows what he has to do. Jorge realizes that he can’t stand by and let WICKED have these innocent kids. Newt, Thomas, and Minho have brains and courage and they didn’t do anything wrong. They’re merely victims of circumstance and WICKED’s plots, just like himself. Thomas was young when he joined WICKED and didn’t really have a say in the matter. Jorge knows he cannot wait anymore, the time is _now_. And if Brenda’s going with the boys, so is Jorge.

Jorge finally has the courage to stand up to the organization that took his family and ruined his life. They manage to escape from the WICKED complex on a stolen Berg. They head to Denver to find Hans and get WICKED’s implants out of Newt, Thomas, and Minho. The boys and Brenda are his family now, and Jorge always looks out for his family. That piece of him that got buried under so much pain when his parents and Diego died begins to resurface for good. _It’s almost nice_, Jorge thinks, _being on the run_. Having others to look out for helps keep his mind off of everything he’s done and gives him a purpose again. Planning to overthrow WICKED helps too.

Even though he doesn’t really like the idea, Jorge agrees to let Newt stay behind in the Berg. _It’s better to keep him here rather than have him slow us down or get us into trouble_, Jorge thinks.

Jorge, Brenda, Thomas, and Minho roam all over Denver looking for Hans. Gally finds them before they can get very far. Jorge is worried about how easily Gally managed to find them and figure out who they are. He remembers Gally: an outcast in the Glade, a bully, and Thomas’s main rival. Gally knew the truth about Thomas and WICKED and tried to warn the other boys to no avail.

Jorge also knows that WICKED forced Gally to kill Chuck. He knows that WICKED messed with Gally’s head after he came out of the Maze and turned him into a killer. Jorge had heard about Gally when he escaped the infirmary after Chuck had been killed: he’d gone completely nuts, running through the halls and shouting nonsense. He must have been sent away after that and made his way to Denver with all of WICKED believing him dead or insane. 

When they meet Gally and he tells them that WICKED is kidnapping Immunes in order to continue the Trials, Jorge is furious. Gally seems more stable, and Jorge is inclined to trust what he’s saying. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” and all that. Jorge knows what Thomas and Minho, hell, even Gally, have been through at WICKED’s hands and the last thing he wants is more innocent people going through what the boys did. 

Jorge knows they have to find Hans and the Right Arm more urgently than ever. He spends hours in the hotel with Brenda, Thomas, and Minho trying to track down any information they can. Jorge even resorts to calling some of his old WICKED contacts and some other people he knows in the Denver area. Hours later, they manage to track down Han’s address.

They find Hans the very next day. Jorge isn’t quite sure how to feel about him, but he trusts Brenda’s judgement. And anyone who hates WICKED is fine by Jorge. Seeing Thomas’s violent reaction as Hans tries to remove the device in his brain makes Jorge _mad_. They didn’t risk their lives to come all this way just for Thomas to not be able to undergo the procedure. _It’s not fair, _Jorge thinks as he helps hold down Thomas. _Understatement of the century_, Jorge thinks next. 

It comes as a relief to see Thomas cheerful the next day and back to his old self, whoever that might be. Though he would never admit it, Jorge had been worried about Thomas.

The Denver Crank Palace is almost the last straw for Jorge. He’s obviously heard about Crank Palaces, had kept Diego out of the one near their old home, but he’s never been inside one. They were built with good intentions, but things spiraled out of control once the Cranks took over. People with no hope and the knowledge that nothing worse can happen to them than what they are going through tend to disregard the rules.

Jorge bribes the guards and follows Thomas, Brenda, and Minho through the Crank Palace until they find Newt in a bowling alley. Seeing Newt like this breaks Jorge’s heart, though he doesn’t show it. He has to focus on keeping everyone alive and getting back to the Berg safely. Newt and the other Cranks remind Jorge of Diego: young, scared, and faced with a fate they can barely understand. WICKED has done nothing to help the Cranks, all their work for the cure has been in vain. Nothing has changed for the people on the ground, only gotten worse. 

Jorge is secretly glad that Newt isn’t coming with them—Jorge can’t watch another person he cares about go insane under the effects of the Flare. He can’t stand helplessly by as another innocent person dies because he didn’t stand up to WICKED in time. Then he feels guilty for being glad, because maybe they could have helped Newt if he had come with them. Minho’s violent reaction doesn’t help matters. 

When they finally find the Right Arm, it is nothing like Jorge expected it would be. First they trick him, Minho, Brenda, and Thomas into thinking that they are selling Immunes. Then Vince tells them that the Right Arm has no weapons and no real soldiers, but they do have a plan. Jorge almost leaves right then and there, but Vince’s plan to get into the WICKED complex using Immunes, though somewhat questionable, is kind of brilliant. And Jorge lives for questionable but brilliant plans. _This is it, _he thinks. _It’s finally time to take down WICKED_. _It’s finally time to avenge Diego, Mom, Dad, and everyone else who suffered because of WICKED._

Revenge proves to be harder than Jorge thought it would be. The plan goes well, or at least as well as their plans ever go. Lawrence gets Thomas into the WICKED complex while the rest of them get in through another building. Jorge gets some satisfaction from blowing up the entrance into WICKED’s headquarters, but he knows someone is bound to hear the explosions and come looking. He just hopes it’s not before Thomas gets back. 

When Thomas comes back carrying a note from Chancellor Paige, the plan changes slightly. WICKED had been hiding the captured Immunes in the Maze and there was no question of leaving them behind. Brenda, Jorge, Gally, Teresa, Minho, and Thomas abandon the Right Arm and set off for the Maze at once. The looks on Thomas, Gally, and Minho’s faces are enough to convince Jorge. When Jorge sees the Maze, he is struck by just how _big _it is. The footage from the beetle blades didn’t even come close to capturing the sheer enormity of the Maze and the Glade. He almost can’t believe he had a hand in keeping the Gladers here. 

Eventually the Right Arm gets into WICKED’s headquarters, the Immunes are rescued from the Maze, and the complex is destroyed. Everything is as it should be. Except Newt is still in Denver and Teresa is dead and Diego is dead and so many other people are _dead_. And even though he’s been out for weeks and tried to take WICKED down, Jorge knows it’s at least partly his fault. If he had just stood up to WICKED sooner, if he hadn’t played his part in the Trails, maybe they would still be alive. If he hadn’t believed in false promises of a cure and saving humanity. 

In the end, WICKED doesn’t _lose, _but it doesn’t _win _either_. _Many of the people in the WICKED complex survive the explosion and, in a way, the organization succeeds. Its goal has always been to save the human race, and it did. By giving Thomas the map and no other choice but to follow it, Ava Paige gave humanity a second chance and did it on WICKED’s terms. 

Like everything else in his life, Paradise comes at a price. Jorge thought that going through the Flat-Trans would make him feel better, but Paradise only gives him more time to confront his demons. At first, the work of building a new society is enough to distract him, to take his mind off of everything he’s seen and done and everyone he’s lost. The Immunes and former Gladers who survived WICKED are his family now, and Jorge always looks after his family. He makes sure everyone has a job and helps Minho divvy up supplies and assign roles to everyone. Jorge knows as well as anyone that it is important to keep busy to stay sane.

Once the hard work is done and everything is settled, Jorge no longer has an excuse. He is constantly haunted by everything that happened since the Flare took his parents. The names of everyone he’s lost run through his head and their faces flash behind his eyes every time he tries to sleep. He remembers the way Diego’s face lit up when he aced his spelling test and the way his mother used to write little notes to put in their lunches for school. He remembers his father leaning over the plans for a tree house and lifting up Diego so he could see. He remembers having sleepovers with his friends and talking long into the night. Jorge remembers his family, and wishes they were here to see Paradise. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you're interested in my other works I'm over on fanfiction.net under the same name. Eventually I might get around to getting all my stories on AO3.


End file.
